Iran reports record growth in air travel during New Year holidays
The Iranian transportation ministry (MRUD) says demand for air travel rose to record highs during the country's New Year holidays as the aviation industry starts to recover from more than two years of pandemic-related restrictions.
MRUD’s head of safety and civil defense operations Reza Nafisi said on Tuesday that airports across Iran had reported record passenger numbers since the start of the holiday travel season in mid-March.
Nafisi said that overall passenger numbers had increased by 60% over the two weeks to March 28 to a total of 1.49 million.
Flight numbers also increased by 7% compared to the similar period last year to 12,500, said the official in an interview with the semi-official ISNA news agency.
Traffic at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport (IKA), the main international airport in Iran, rose by 217% year on year during the high travel season, said Nafisi, adding that the airport recorded 1,915 take-offs and landings over the 13 days to March 28.
He said that the number of international passengers processed at IKA rose by 274% to 301,000 over the same period.
The boom is a first for the Iranian civil aviation sector in more than two years as many airlines have been grappling with reduced passenger numbers because of the spread of the coronavirus.
The MRUD had maintained a cap on the number of passengers allowed on a flight for more than year since the start of the pandemic in Iran February 2020.
Aviation authorities said last week that a successful rollout of coronavirus vaccinations had helped boost demand for air travel in Iran.
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